How To Turn McDonald's Filet-O-Fish Into A Surf And Turf Treat

The famous Filet-O-Fish from McDonald's almost never came to be. As fate would have it, it's now a staple on the chain's menus around the world, and people have gotten creative with it. A longstanding hack, the Surf and Turf burger became a limited edition menu item in Canada in 2022 and made its way back to the Remix Menu in 2024. The Surf and Turf was essentially a combination of a cheeseburger and Filet-O-Fish, featuring all the trimmings of cheese, onions, pickles, ketchup, and mustard, plus a little tartar sauce to compliment the fish. While it may not be easy to find in stores, you can actually make it yourself.

To achieve this treat, order a regular cheeseburger and Filet-O-Fish burger. From there, replace the top bun from the cheeseburger with the top half of the Filet-O-Fish. Make sure to transfer the fish patty along with as much tartar sauce as you can, and any toppings you want to take over. This is going to be a heavy sandwich, but it's still great value for money and not your typical Drive-thru meal. A hack on the hack is to order extra tartar sauce to make sure your fish isn't being relegated to the side in favor of dominant cheeseburger elements. If you're not sure the sauce will blend with the beef patty, rest assured that tartar is an unexpectedly good condiment for steaks, so you're in for a pleasant surprise.

As strange as the combination sounds, the Surf and Turf had apparently been a popular hack for years. The Remix Menu features just one beef patty, but online users recall using a double cheeseburger for their versions. Ultimately, that came down to personal preference, but the more surprising feature was just how tasty people found it.

Notably, a number of people tried the hack for themselves and felt the flavors and textures were too weird together. A few online reviewers reached the consensus that though it was pretty good and worth a try, they wouldn't order it again. Then, there are those who appreciated the mash-up, with one Redditor calling it their "favorite," and another saying, "I was even more disgusted to find out that it wasn't terrible. Them McChemicals be hittin." No numbers are out officially on the burger's popularity, but it was good enough to get the McDonald's bigwigs to take it seriously, so that's some pretty high praise for an amateur hack. 

The curious combination joined the ranks of the baked apple pie paired with soft serve ice cream, another bottom-up hit that made its way to the Remix Menu. Other McDonald's hacks that haven't found the recognition they deserve (yet) include a Sausage McMuffin combined with hash browns for an elevated sandwich to start your day. Technically, dipping fries in your milkshake counts as a hack, but something as popular as that hardly feels novel at this point. Still, don't knock it until you've tried it — it's hard to beat a good salty and sweet combo.